


Hide and Seek

by Truth



Category: Aliens (1986)
Genre: references to violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-02-07
Updated: 2005-02-07
Packaged: 2017-10-14 06:30:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truth/pseuds/Truth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A glimpse at the Colonial Marines and who they were before the movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hide and Seek

Hide and seek is a game for children – fast-moving and gleeful, colored by adrenaline and the sheer joy of out-foxing the other children, crowned by that last, helter-skelter run for the goal where you could crow out your victory to the world.

‘Look at me! I _did_ it! I hid the best. I ran the fastest! Oh, you’ll _never_ catch me!’

Most children outgrow hide and seek, leaving it behind as they move on to more serious, grown-up activities. They go to school and become adults, they work nine-to-five and the next time they think of hide and seek is when they play it with their own children.

For those who cling to the adrenaline, the stealth and the wild exhilaration… there’s a place for them too; childish shrieks of laughter replaced by the sound of explosions and the pseudo-comforting noise of covering fire.

“Aw, hide and seek was never like _this_.”

“Just open the goddamn door, Hudson!”

During any operation, the big question was always whether Hudson would finally buy it at the hands of the enemy… or his own squad. The best odds were that Vasquez would someday give in to temptation and simply blow his head off, but the smart money was on finding his corpse one morning with a pillow over its face.

“That would mean getting close to him,” had been Vasquez’s contribution to the discussion, her attention more on the weapon she was cleaning than the argument itself. “I don’t know anyone that desperate.”

“Hey, the ladies _love_ me!”

“Shut up, Hudson.”

In point of fact, Hudson’ continued survival was mostly due to the fact that, no matter how he ran his mouth or how obnoxious the stories and innuendo that fell from the lips that had been fattened by almost everyone else in the squad at least once…

…like the others in his odd little family, Hudson was very, very good at hide and seek.

“Why don’t you and me…?”

“Not in this lifetime, Hudson.”

“Well then….”

“Or the next.”

It was like a family of alcoholics, dysfunctional, enabling, embattled… and ready to rend any outsider who attempted to interfere. From the young hardcases and their smart-guns, to the one or two lifers still tough enough to keep up, Master Sergeant Apone’s squad had a reputation. It was one that they traded on shamelessly. Attitudes ranging from casual to out-right disrespect overlaid a ruthless efficiency that had driven more than one unlucky Lieutenant into a transfer, if not outright flight.

“…kids today.”

“That’s ‘kids today, Master Sergeant,’ to you, Corporal Hicks.”

“And where was that regular army attitude when Drake and Vasquez were discussing the best way of blowing someone in half and still keeping enough of them alive to talk while our latest Lieutenant was trying to eat his ground beef, Top?”

“He was giving them pointers. Man, you shoulda seen the kid’s face!”

“Shut up, Hudson.”

They were eleven men and women who bore the title ‘Marine’ less with pride than with a casual acceptance of the politically correct label for a killer for hire.

“Not that Vasquez wouldn’t do it for free.”

“Only if I could start with you, Wierzbowski.”

“You shouldn’t give it away, Vasquez. Then everyone would want some.”

“… from Vasquez? Oh, please.”

“She could get a pimp. How ‘bout it, Drake?”

“Me? I’m going down to check on the ammo so I can tell the board of inquiry that I have no idea how y’all ended up dead.”

Eleven… and occasionally twelve.

“Who’s the new guy?”

“Some wet named Gorman. More like ‘Gorm-less’, if you ask me.”

“Frost’s already started a pool on how long he’ll last.”

“It’s a sure sign they’re gonna drop us in the shit again. Any news, Top?”

“Better not be another fucking bug hunt….”

"I thought you _liked_ hide and seek, Hudson?"

"Shut up, Vasquez."

“… just another day in the Colonial Marine Corps. Quit your whining, ladies, and smarten up. We’ve got a job to do.”


End file.
